~~    Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian Day recognizes the designation of the meridian through Greenwich, England, as the "Prime Meridian" for the Earth  on 11-01-1884.  Thereafter, longitude was measured east and west of the "Greenwich Meridian" (unless one were French), and navigational chronometers were set so as to echo the time at Greenwich.  (The French objected to the location and used Paris for their Prime Meridian until that farce got tiresome in 1911 and they switched over.)  Having a zero longitude made navigation and cartography much easier and led to variouo time systems based on said location, such as Zulu Time, Greenwich (Mean) Time, and Universal Time.  These are all unrelated to Prime TIme, which is simply a code meaning "here be Dreck" much as ancient maps had areas marked "here be monsters" and such.

Give Up Your Shoulds Day  You know all of that stuff you should do, should be doing, should be working on, should think, should learn, and should know?   Just let go of all that crap.  Take a day to be, and not to be what you should be,, but just be.  Do whatever, or perhaps nothing at all. 

Samhain in the North, Beltane in the Sputh  These are cross quarter days.  Why these days are cross and what they are cross about is something of a mystery, but there are 4 of them and they are mirrored at the equator.  Today is the aforementioned pair.

It's Dia de los Muertos at least some of whom are presumably grateful.

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;

“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”

~~ Stephen Crane

On this day in history:

1512 – First public exhibition of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling

1520 – The Strait of Magellan was first "discovered" and navigated by a European.

1555 – Huguenots established a short lived colony where Rio de Janeiro is

1604 – William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello was  first performed

1611 – Shakespeare's play The Tempest was  first performed

1688 – William III of Orange set out  to conquer England, Scotland and Ireland
 

1755 –  Lisbon was totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami

1765 – The British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act 

1790 – Edmund Burke published Reflections on the Revolution in France

1814 – The Congress of Vienna opened to re-draw the European political map

1848 – The first medical school for women opened in Boston Massachusetts.
 

1870 – The US Weather Bureau made its first official meteorological forecast.

1884 - The International Meridian Conference adopted the Greenwich meridian as the prime meridian of the earth

1894 – Edison filmed Buffalo Bill, and some of his troupe

1896 – A picture of a woman's bare breasts appeared National Geographic 

1897 – The first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public

1941 –  Ansel Adams took a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography.

1945 – The official North Korean newspaper was first published

1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman

1951 – Six thousand five hundred US soldiers were exposed to atomic explosions for training purposes

1952 – The US detonated the world's first thermonuclear device, at the Eniwetok atoll.
 

1955 – The US set up a "Military Assistance Advisory Group" in South Vietnam

1957 – The Mackinac Bridge in Michigan opened to traffic

1963 – The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, officially opened

1968 – The Motion Picture Association's film rating system was officially introduced
 

1979 – Colonel Alberto Natusch executed a short lived coup d'état In Bolivia

1982 – Honda becamethe first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the US
 

1987 – British Rail Class 43 (HST) hits a record speed of 238 km/h

1993 – The Maastricht Treaty took effect, formally establishing the European Union.

Born this day in:

When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.

~~     Stephen Crane

1530 – Étienne de La Boétie, philosopher and judge
1585 – Jan Brozek, mathematician, physician, and astronomer
1596 – Pietro da Cortona, Ipainter
1666 – James Sherard, botanist and curator
1757 – Antonio Canova, sculptor and educator
1848 – Caroline Still Anderson,  physician, educator and abolitionist
1849 – William Merritt Chase, painter and educator
1871 – Stephen Crane, poet, novelist, and short story writer
1872 – Louis Dewis, painter
1880 – Sholem Asch, author and playwright
1880 – Grantland Rice, journalist and poet
1880 – Alfred Wegener, meteorologist and geophysicist
1898 – Sippie Wallace, singer, songwriter, and pianist
1915 – Margaret Taylor-Burroughs,  painter, poet, and educator, co-founded the DuSable Museum of African American History 
11918 – Ken Miles, legendary race car driver
1919 – Hermann Bondi, mathematician and cosmologist
1923 – Gordon R. Dickson, author
1937 – Bill Anderson, singer and songwriter
1944 – Kinky Friedman, singer, songwriter, politician, and author
1945 – John Williamson, singer and songwriter
1946 – Ric Grech, musician
1947 – Jim Steinman, songwriter and producer
1949 – David Foster, singer, songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1949 – Michael D. Griffin, physicist and engineer
1950 – Mitch Kapor, computer programmer, businessman, and activist; founded the  Electronic Frontier Foundation
1950 – Robert B. Laughlin, physicist and academic
1950 – Dan Peek, singer, songwriter, and musician
1951 – Ronald Bell, singer, songwriter, saxophonist, and producer (
1953 – Jan Davis, engineer and astronaut
1953 – Paul Wellings, ecologist and academic
1957 – Lyle Lovett, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1958 – Robert Hart, singer and songwriter
1959 – Susanna Clarke, author and educator
1961 – Calvin Johnson, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1962 – Magne Furuholmen, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1962 – Anthony Kiedis, singer and songwriter
1963 – Big Kenny, singer, songwriter,  and guitarist
1964 – Sophie B. Hawkins, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Tina Arena, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress
1978 – Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer

One can show one's contempt for the cruelty and stupidity of the world by making of one's life a poem of incoherence and absurdity.

~~     Alfred Jarry

1496 – Filippo Buonaccorsi (Filip Callimachus), humanist writer
1546 – Giulio Romano, painter and architect
1629 – Hendrick ter Brugghen, painter
1642 – Jean Nicolet, explorer
1888 – Nikolay Przhevalsky, geographer and explorer (
1903 – Theodor Mommsen, archaeologist, journalist, and politician
1907 – Alfred Jarry, author and playwright
1952 – Dixie Lee, singer
1970 – Robert Staughton Lynd, sociologist and academic
1972 – Robert MacArthur, ecologist and academic
1972 – Ezra Pound, poet and critic
1983 – Anthony van Hoboken, musicologist and author
1993 – Severo Ochoa, biochemist and academic
2004 – Terry Knight, singer, songwriter, and producer
2005 – Skitch Henderson, pianist, composer, and conductor
2006 – William Styron, novelist and essayist
2008 – Jacques Piccard,  oceanographer and engineer 
2008 – Yma Sumac, soprano and actress with exceptional range

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Dia de los Muertes
International Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome Awareness Day
National Brush Day (United States)
The first day of winter observances:
Calan Gaeaf, celebrations start at sunset of October 31. (Wales)
Samhain in the Northern Hemisphere and Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere, celebrations start at sunset of October 31 
Give Up Your Shoulds Day
National Cinnamon Day
National Calzone Day
National Author's Day
National Family Literacy Day
National vinegar Day
Prime Meridian Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Sippie Wallace

Kinky Friedman

John Williamson

Dan Peek

Ronald Bell

Lyle Lovett

Yma Sumac

BONUS: Give Up Your Shoulds Day:

Please Note: I wish my Monday Open Threads to remain on the front page because I sporadically say things in them that I wish to be as widely read as possible. Accordingly, please do not post any Covid-19 related commentary in the comments. Thank you. There is a separate OT, Part B, aka The Dose, where all such material is welcome. Thanks again.

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